Beautifully Obscene: Concert, Talks and Tours

After a fantastic opening night, we are thrilled to announce our season of events for Beautifully Obscene.

All events are free and will be held in Studio 3 Gallery. As space is limited, we would ask that you book tickets to ensure your place.

Please note, this exhibition contains very graphic of a sexual nature and may not be suitable for all audiences.

#EarBox: Operatic Arias

#EarBox, Studio 3’s collaboration with the Music Department, returns for a third time. In this instalment the University Music Scholars will take the audience on a journey through the tempestuous world of love and lust at the opera including arias by Mozart, Gluck, Dvorack and Saint-Saens.

Beautifully Obscene has been curated by students from our History of Art department. Join us for a tour and hear them discuss both key works in the exhibition, and their experiences of curating this show.

Do you want to know more about the artists who created shunga and how it relates to the rest of their work? Or do you wonder who bought shunga and why? Come along to learn more about the beauty and humour of the prints on display, and hear about how shunga was created, cherished, and occasionally censored in Edo Japan. There will also be the opportunity for questions.

“Beautifully Obscene: Uses of the Erotic and Pornographic in Feminist Film”

Sara Janssen, PhD Candidate, University of Kent

Taking the paradoxical conjunction of “beautifully obscene” as a starting point, this talk will discuss the troubled relationship between feminism, erotic art, and pornography. I will discuss some of the issues feminists have raised against the representation of the female body and female sexuality in erotic art and pornography, as well as arguments that have been brought to the fore in favour of an appropriation of erotic art and pornography in order affirm female sexual agency. Discussing different examples of feminist art film as well as recent examples of alternative pornography, this talk highlights the central role of female sexuality in feminist theory and art from the 1960s to the present day.